Demographic Profile of Suspected Female Breast Cancer Patients Seeking Ultrasound Services in Selected Public Hospitals in Lusaka District, Zambia

Abstract

Background: Globally, breast cancer among females is the number one cause of morbidity at 11.6% and is the leading cause of mortality at 6.6%. In Zambia, it is the most common malignancy among women. However, the demographic characteristics of suspected breast cancer female patients accessing ultrasound breast cancer services in Zambia are still unclear. Objective: This study aimed to determine the demographic characteristics of suspected female breast cancer patients. The demographic characteristics may then be used by responsible authorities such as the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Zambia and aligned Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the Zambia cancer association in concentrating their efforts to curtail the scourge. Methods: Systematic random sampling was used for the selection of participants in this study. The selected participant’s demographic information was obtained from their medical records such as the medical files, Cancer Diseases Hospital (CDH) ultrasound register and University Teaching Hospital (UTH) histology registers. Further, the researcher personally interviewed the selected participants to obtain the demographic information required for the study. Results: The median age for the study participants was 43, with the interquartile range (IQR)=36-50. The median parity status was 3, with IQR=1-5. The majority of breast cancer patients were married (57) (55.9%) and employed (80) (78.4%). There was no significant difference in education level and classification of residence for study participants between participants with a histology-positive and histology-negative result, P greater than 0.05. Conclusion: This study has found evidence that the reproductive age group, low to no parity status, married marital status and employed employment status are associated with breast cancer. Education level and classification of residence did not show any association with breast cancer in this study.